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Vice president reaffirms validity of Taiwan's U.N. membership bid

ROC Central News Agency

2007-09-19 14:15:06

    Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu reaffirmed Wednesday the validity of the country's bid for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan.

    Lu dismissed as "mistaken" a claim by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that "it was not legally possible" for him to receive Taiwan's membership application based on U.N. Resolution 2758.

    Lu noted that the resolution mentions neither the Republic of China nor Taiwan in deciding to accept the representatives of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations and expel the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek. "It's alright that the United Nations follows a 'one China' policy. But just as there is one China, there is also one Taiwan, and we are applying to join the United Nations under the new name of Taiwan today," Lu said.

    The vice president said the issue of U.N. membership for Taiwan has officially been introduced on the international stage, and she urged the local people not to be discouraged.

    During a daily news briefing held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York Tuesday, Ban again referred to Resolution 2758 of 1971 to justify his decision to return letters written by President Chen Shui-bian requesting membership for Taiwan.

    However, Ban said he hopes the issue of U.N. membership for Taiwan will be discussed by member states since some of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have submitted a motion to the General Assembly asking for the inclusion of the issue as a supplementary item on the agenda of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, which opened Tuesday.

    The motion requests that the Security Council process Taiwan's membership application according to established procedures, because resolution 2758 "did not resolve the issue of representation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in the United Nations."

    The General Committee is expected to meet Wednesday to finalize the agenda of the session.

    Taiwan has not been represented in the United Nations since 1971, when the Republic of China's U.N. seat was taken over by the People's Republic of China. The country is bidding to join the world body under the name Taiwan this year for the first time.

(By Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/Li